Editing Online service provider (section)

{{short description|Type of service provider}}
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An '''online service provider''' ('''OSP''') can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider (music, movies), a search engine, an [[e-commerce]] site, an online banking site, a health site, an official government site, social media, a  [[wiki]], or a [[Usenet]] newsgroup.{{Clarify|date=March 2009}} 

In its original more limited definition, it referred only to a commercial computer communication service in which paid members could dial via a computer modem the service's private computer network and access various services and information resources such as [[bulletin board system]]s, [[downloadable]] [[Computer file|files]] and [[Computer program|programs]], [[Newsgroup|news articles]], [[chat room]]s, and [[Email|electronic mail]] services. The term "online service" was also used in references to these dial-up services. The traditional dial-up online service differed from the modern [[Internet service provider]] in that they provided a large degree of content that was only accessible by those who subscribed to the online service, while ISP mostly serves to provide access to the [[Internet]] and generally provides little if any exclusive content of its own. 

In the U.S., the [[Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act]] (OCILLA) portion of the [[United States|U.S.]] [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] has expanded the legal definition of online service in two different ways for different portions of the law. It states in section 512(k)(1):

<blockquote>(A) As used in subsection (a), the term "service provider" means an entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received.<br>
(B) As used in this section, other than subsection (a), the term "service provider" means a provider of online services or network access, or the operator of facilities therefore, and includes an entity described in subparagraph (A).<ref>Cornell Law School U.S. Code collection [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512- US CODE: Title 17, 512. Limitations on liability relating to material online].  Accessed 20 December 2006.</ref></blockquote>

These broad definitions make it possible for numerous web businesses to benefit from the OCILLA.